1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for, and a method of, harvesting crops. It is concerned with detaching from plants, without cutting them, seeds, seed-bearing parts, seed bodies, and certain fruits and/or foliage, collecting the detached material and separating from it the wanted plant parts. The invention has particular application in the harvesting of grain crops, such as wheat, barley, oats and rice, but also has application in the harvesting of other combinable crops like pulses, oilseeds and herbage seeds.
The invention has further application in the harvesting of nuts and other seed bodies and of flower heads, some fruiting bodies and foliage.
2. The Prior Art
Commonly the harvesting of seed crops, particularly cereal and herbage seed crops, is carried out by a once-over, destructive operation which involves the cutting of the seed-bearing stems near their base. Harvesting machines, particularly combine-harvesters, are easily overloaded by large volumes of crop bulk, because these create problems of seed detachment and separation.
The in-situ stripping of seeds from the uncut crop has been attempted repeatedly and has met with varying degrees of success. In-situ seed stripping by a rotary device became known through U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,484 entitled `Standing Grain Harvester`. However, none of the early diclosures made adequate provision for satisfactorily harvesting seeds or other wanted parts from crops which are unfavourably presented, because they are either severely leaning, tangled, twisted or laid, with the wanted parts in close proximity to the ground or embedded in matted crop layers.
More recent proposals relating to in-situ seed stripping appear in published International Patent Applications PCT/W086/01972, PCT/W088/04885, PCT/W088/05626, and in GB 2188822A, all of which have the same inventor as the present application. These more recent proposals disclose crop engaging elements which are preferably resiliently mounted or made of resilient material, so that damage is avoided if inadvertent contact is made with the ground or with foreign objects among the crop.